Joshua Liao Appointed Chief of General Internal Medicine
Dr. Joshua Liao has been selected as Chief of the William T. and Gay F. Solomon Division of General Internal Medicine, effective January 1, 2024.
Dr. Liao currently serves as an Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Health Systems in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington. He has a secondary appointment in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health within the School of Public Health. At UT Southwestern, he will lead a growing clinical and research division that provides the full spectrum of preventive health services and management, including palliative care and population health.
Dr. Liao received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where he was a clinical fellow at Harvard. He also holds a master’s degree in health policy research from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Liao’s career trajectory has reflected his commitment to improving health care payment and delivery through policy and practice change. He has provided recommendations about payment models to the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services through his service on the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee; served on national committees for the American College of Physicians (ACP); participated in a payment advisory group for the American Academy of Family Physicians; and worked with state Medicaid programs on payment and delivery policy issues. Previously, he served as an advisor to the American Medical Association's RVU Update Committee.
In addition to his role as Associate Chair for Health Systems in the Department of Medicine, Dr. Liao has served in several leadership roles at the University of Washington, including as co-chair of the clinical innovation workgroup within the Department of Medicine and the enterprise-wide Associate Medical Director for Contracting and Value-Based Care. He founded a nationally recognized policy evaluation unit that became the formal evaluation partner for the Washington Health Care Authority, the largest purchaser of health care services in the state.
Dr. Liao has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles and has given more than 75 national and international presentations related to his clinical work, policy proposals, and practice transformation. He has had continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health, and he is currently the PI or joint PI on grants totaling nearly $11M. He is also an active member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and the ACP, and he serves on the editorial or advisory boards of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, and the Journal of Hospital Management and Health Policy, and Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation.
Dr. Liao succeeds Dr. Rachel Bonnema, who served as Interim Chief of General Internal Medicine since 2021.